21st Jan 2025 12:04
(Alliance News) - Serica Energy PLC on Tuesday said that its five-well drilling campaign at Triton was delivering excellent results but reported a contraction in 2024 oil production and revenue.
The North Sea-focused oil and gas producer said revenue declined 21% to USD726 million in 2024, compared to a 2023 pro forma revenue of USD920 million.
The company produced 34,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2024, down 14% from a pro forma output of 40,100 in 2023.
The average Brent oil price remained unchanged at USD81 per barrel.
Looking ahead, Serica Energy expects capital expenditure between USD220 million and USD250 million in 2025, down at least 3.8% from USD260 million in 2024, and sharply higher than USD98 million in 2023. The increase in 2024 was mostly due to the Triton drilling programme, with the expected costs for 2025 also to be spent on the programme, and subsequent work at Belinda.
Operating expenses for 2025 are anticipated at USD330 million, the same as in 2024, and 21% higher than USD273 million in 2023.
"The company continues to be very active in screening a broad range of cash-generative and value accretive merger & acquisitions opportunities in both the North Sea and other geographies," Serica Energy said.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Cox said: "The outlook for 2025 is promising, with ongoing work to increase asset reliability and further positive results from the Triton drilling programme expected to boost production and help deliver material free cash flow. We demonstrated our commitment to shareholder distributions in 2024 and we expect substantial cash generation in 2025 to allow us to continue delivering material direct returns to our shareholders, while simultaneously continuing investment in our portfolio to unlock further value."
He added: "The five-well drilling campaign at Triton is now half-way through and delivering excellent results, with the Gannet GE05 well performing ahead of expectations. This is a further example of the opportunities that our subsurface team are able to find on mature fields, offsetting natural decline. We look forward to the results of the remaining three wells in the campaign, and the same team are now maturing new opportunities on the Bruce field. While we continue to deliver value from our existing portfolio, we are also actively screening multiple M&A opportunities to grow and diversify our business."
The company will release 2024 results on April 1.
Serica Energy shares were 0.4% higher at 152.90 pence each on Tuesday around noon in London, giving it a market capitalisation of GBP605.4 million.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor
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